Ford Motor Co.bizWatch-infoPopup is on schedule with its $600 million retooling of the Louisville Assembly Plant in Louisville and soon will complete the demolition phase of the project.
Andrew Tapp, lean manufacturing manager for the plant, said demolition is expected to be completed in the next month or so, and then the company will begin adding the technology and equipment that will make the facility one of Ford’s most modern plants.
As Business First has reported, Ford is making improvements at the 3.15 million-square-foot plant that will allow the company to produce the next-generation Ford Escape and other models on Ford’s C-car platform.
Previously, the plant, which has employed about 1,100 workers, made the Ford Explorer and Explorer Sport-Trac models. Assembly of the Ford Explorer, which had been performed at the Louisville plant since 1990, moved to a retooled plant in Chicago in December.
Ford has said it will add as many as 1,800 workers at the plant to produce its next-generation Escape and perhaps other C-car models.
The improvements include including new tooling in the assembly area, new equipment in the body shop and upgrades to the paint department.
On Friday, a contractor for Ford used a helicopter to remove sections of the roof-top duct work, and ventilation and HVAC equipment from the plant as part of upgrades to the paint department.